Skyline Express

Skyline Express Rulebook

Table of Contents

Aim of the Game

The aim of the game is to pick up Passengers and place them on the player's Carriage board, according to specific Goals. Some Passengers have strict demands regarding their seating or fellow travelers. Others will gladly benefit from additional Services. Fulfilling Goals and complying with the passengers' special demands will score points.

The player with the most points at the end of the game becomes responsible for the future of the Skyline Express.

Components

1 Main board
4 Carriage boards
120 Passenger tiles (incl. 20 Persona tiles)
24 Goal tiles
20 Preference tiles
20 Service tiles
24 Action tokens
44 Ticket tokens
1 First player token
4 Scoring tokens
10 Automa tiles
4 baggage carriage (Bags & Belongings expansion)
120 Luggage tokens (Bags & Belongings expansion)

Main Board

The Main Board shows the railway station with the following areas:

Main Hall - Passengers line up to the ticket office
Waiting area - 6 additional Passengers wait here
Lounge - Place for Persona Preference tiles
Buffet - Place for 3 Service tiles
Ticket office - Action icons and place to store used Action tokens
Skyline Express - Place for Goal tiles
Scoring track - Players mark their victory points (VP) here
Platform - Round summary

Carriage Board

The player board is a carriage with 8 compartments. Each compartment is either green or red. In each of them there are 2 aisles and 2 window seats.

Passenger Tiles

There are 120 Passenger tiles in 6 types (20 each):

Tourists - yellow
Artists - red
Entrepreneurs - blue
Workers - purple
Soldiers - green
Personas - white

Personas are special passengers with particular preferences regarding their seating in the carriage and their fellow passengers.

Types of Passengers are relevant while scoring for Goals, Personas' preferences as well as Services.

Goal Tiles

Goals are the main way of scoring points in Skyline Express. Each of the three game rounds has 2 Goals which specify the required Passenger seating arrangement in the given round. At the end of each round players score points indicated on the right side of the tile, for each compartment where Passengers are seated according to the pattern shown on the Goal tiles chosen for the given round.

Preference Tiles

Each time a player picks a Persona tile (white) he also picks one of the available Preference tiles from the Lounge. He then places the Persona in a compartment and the chosen Preference tile beside it. From now on this Preference tile becomes a personal goal and at the end of each round scores points for fulfilling its conditions.

The right side of the Preference tile shows a Persona's:

seating preference - compartment colour and their favourite seat (aisle or window). If, at the end of the round, the Persona is seated according to both these preferences the player scores 1 VP.
passenger preference - types of fellow passengers in the same compartment. At the end of the round players receive 1 VP for each passenger in either of the two types.

Service Tiles

Service tiles show additional Services available for the Passengers of your Carriage. In order to acquire a Service tile, a player must use two Ticket tiles. On the left side of each Service tile is an illustration indicating a particular service. The right side shows the types of Passengers interested in the Service. At the end of each round players score 2 VP for every pair of Passengers in the indicated types located in the player's Carriage.

Action Tokens

Action tokens are used for performing actions - each action requires moving 1 Action token to the Ticket Office area. Each player begins the game with 2 Action tokens. At the end of round I and II each player receives 2 Action tokens and adds them to their pool of available Action tokens.

Remember: Regardless of the number of Action tokens you have, you can only spend up to 2 of them on each turn.

Ticket Tiles

Each time a player places a Passenger tile in the last available seat in a given compartment, he receives 1 Ticket tile and places it, face up, by the door of the compartment. A Ticket can only be received once per compartment. Tickets are used to acquire Service tiles and retrieve previously used Action tokens.

Used Tickets remain on the Carriage board but must be flipped.

Each unused Ticket provides an extra 2 VP at the end of the game.

At any moment of the game, a player can spend (flip) 1 Ticket tile to reclaim 2 Action tokens. (Any number of times).

NOTE: One of the actions allows a player to move a Passenger to another available seat in their carriage. Placing another Passenger in the now empty seat in a compartment with a ticket by its door (used or unused) does not provide another Ticket.

Scoring Tokens

Scoring tokens are used for marking players' victory points on the scoring track after each round.

Game Setup

Place the Main Board in the middle of your table.
Shuffle all Goal tiles and place 2, face up, onto each carriage in the Skyline Express. Put the remaining tiles back in the box as they will not be used for the rest of the game.
Shuffle all Service tiles and place 3, face up, onto the Buffet area. Put the remaining Service tiles by the board.
Put all Passenger tiles in the bag, shake well, draw the proper number of tiles and place them in the Main Hall.
- 2 players: 2 rows with 10 Passenger tiles each
- 3 players: 3 rows with 9 Passenger tiles each
- 4 players: 4 rows with 12 Passenger tiles each
Draw 6 Passenger tiles from the bag and place them in the Waiting area.
Shuffle Preference tiles, face down, and draw as many as the number of Personas in the first row of the Main Hall and in the Waiting area summed up. Place them, face up, in the Lounge. Put the remaining Preference tiles in a facedown stack near the board.
Each player receives 1 Carriage board and 2 Action tokens in their chosen colour which they place in their play area as well as a Scoring token on 0 space of the scoring track.
First player token goes to the person who last travelled by train.

Game Play

The game is divided into 3 rounds. Each round consists of:

Action phase
Scoring phase
Cleanup phase

Action Phase

Beginning with the first player, all players perform their turns in a clockwise order. On their turn each player performs the following actions, in any order:

MUST draw 1 Passenger tile from the first from the top, non-empty row in the Main Hall and place it onto a free seat in their Carriage.
CAN perform up to two Actions, discarding 1 Action token to the Ticket Office per action.
CAN collect any number of Service tiles paying 2 Tickets for each of them.

Picking Passengers

Passengers are always chosen from those currently available in the top (first, non-empty) row in the Main Hall. A player can pick any available Passenger tile in the row regardless of their order. After picking the Passenger tile, a player must place it in any seat in their Carriage. If a Passenger is seated in the last available seat of a compartment, a player automatically receives 1 Ticket tile and places it, face up, beside the door to the compartment.

Each time a player picks a Persona tile (white) he also picks one of the available Preference tiles from the Lounge. He then places the Persona in a compartment and the chosen Preference tile beside it. Each compartment can seat up to 4 Personas. Therefore, there can be no more than 4 Preference tiles beside it.

Performing Actions

At any point of their turn, before or after picking a Passenger tile, a player can perform up to two Actions using 1 Action token per action. Used tokens should be placed onto the Ticket Office area.

Available actions:

Let's switch places

Swap two Passengers of your choice in your carriage. If you are swapping a Persona you must also take one of the Preference tiles in that compartment and place it beside the new compartment.
Wrong seat

Move a Passenger to any other available seat in your carriage. If this Passenger is placed in the last available seat in a compartment, and if there is no Ticket tile beside it, draw one Ticket tile and place it by the door, face up.
Wrong train

Swap a chosen Passenger from your carriage with one of the available ones in the Waiting area. If it is a Persona you chose from the Waiting area, you must pick one of the Preference tiles from the Lounge and place it beside the compartment where you are placing the Persona. If you are swapping a Persona with another Passenger from the Waiting area, remove one of the Preference tiles from beside that Persona's compartment and put it back into the Lounge.
Demanding customers

Draw 2 additional Service tiles and place them beside the Buffet, face up. You can now decide if you want to spend 2 Ticket tokens and pick one of the available 5 Service tiles.
That's not my luggage (Used only with the Bags & Belongings expansion)

Discard the Luggage token you just picked and choose a Luggage token of any colour from the box, then place it in the Luggage Compartment.

NOTE: If a compartment has more than one Persona tile, then, when swapping the Persona tile from this compartment you can move a Preference tile of your choice from the ones beside this compartment.

Acquiring Service Tiles

At any moment of his turn, a player can spend (flip face-down) any 2 Ticket tiles in order to pick one of the available Service tiles. Immediately draw another one from the Service tile stack so that there are always 3 available.

After picking a Service tile, a player places it beside his Carriage. If a player picks one of the Service tiles from beside the Buffet, he places the remaining one onto the discard stack. If he picks one of the Service tiles available in the Buffet, he should also replace the chosen one with a new one from the top of the Service tile stack and put the remaining ones from beside the Buffet onto the discard stack.

NOTE: Players cannot have two identical Service tiles.

Before choosing a tile, a player can spend 1 Action token and perform the "Demanding Customers" action in order to increase the number of available Service tiles to choose from.

After the active player ends his turn, it's the next player's turn. Players perform their turns until they pick the last Passenger tile from the current row in the Main Hall area. When that happens, count how many Persona tiles there are in the next non-empty row (from top) in the Main Hall and the Waiting area and place the proper number of Preference tiles onto the Lounge, taking them from the top of the Preference tile stack. Now, the first player passes the First player token to the person sitting to his left.

Players continue their turns, beginning with the Player holding the First Player token, until the current row of Passengers is empty. If this was not the last row, fill the Lounge with Preference tiles once more, pass the First Player token to the next person and continue the Action Phase of the current round. If this was the last row of Passengers in the Main Hall the Action Phase of this round is complete and the Scoring Phase begins.

Scoring Phase

The Scoring Phase has three parts: 1. Goals, 2. Personas, 3. Services.

1. Goals

In each round, there are 2 different patterns for placing Passengers in compartments, as shown on Goal tiles for the given round. Each player scores VP shown on the right side of the Goal tile, for every compartment where all Passengers are seated according to the pattern shown on the left side of the Goal tile.

A silhouette symbol means a Passenger of any type.
An "=" symbol means all Passengers must be of the same type.
A "≠" symbol means all Passengers must be of different types.

All Goal tiles are explained in the GOAL TILE DESCRIPTIONS section of this rulebook.

2. Personas

Each player receives points for all his Preference tiles. Score each tile separately.

If a Persona is seated according to their seating preference a player scores 1 VP for this Preference tile. Additionally, a player can score up to 3 VP, 1 VP for each Passenger in one of the two types indicated on the given Preference tile. It means that each Preference tile can grant a maximum of 4 VP for fulfilling both preferences shown on the given tile.

NOTE: One Persona matches only one of the Preference tiles.

Example 1

Preference tile 1 - The player scores 3 VP - 1 VP for the seat and the colour of the compartment based on the Personas' preferences (red compartment by the window) and 2 VP for the two Passenger types indicated on the Preference tile.
Preference tile 2 - The player scores 2 VP - 0 VP for the seat and the colour of the compartment based on the Personas' preferences (he's sitting by the aisle but not in a green compartment) 2 VP for the two Passenger types indicated on the Preference tile.

Example 2

Preference tile 1 - The player scores 2 VP - 1 VP for the seat and the colour of the compartment based on the Personas' preferences (green compartment by the window) and 1 VP for the purple Passenger sitting in the compartment.
Preference tile 2 - The player scores 1 VP - 1 VP for the seat and the colour of the compartment based on the Personas' preferences (green compartment by the window) and 0 VP for the Passengers sitting in the compartment.
Preference tile 3 - The player scores 1 VP - 0 VP for the seat and the colour of the compartment based on the Personas' preferences (red compartment by the aisle) and 1 VP for the purple Passenger sitting in the compartment.

3. Services

Each player receives points for all of his Service tiles. Score each tile separately, counting all pairs of Passengers of types indicated on the given Service tile. These Passengers do not have to sit beside one another, they only have to be seated in the player's carriage.

The player scores 2 VP for each pair of Passengers of the given types.

Each Passenger counts towards scoring multiple Service tiles.

Remember: Players cannot have two identical Service tiles.

Example: In the following example, at the end of the 2nd round of a 2-player game, the player has 2 Service tiles: the first one scoring for pairs of Artists and Entrepreneurs, and the other one, scoring for pairs of Entrepreneurs and Workers. In his Carriage, the player has the following Passengers: 6 Workers, 6 Entrepreneurs, 3 Artists, 2 Personas and 1 Soldier. Each Service tile scores separately. The first tile scores 6 VP. Although the player has 6 Entrepreneurs only 3 of them form a pair with Artists. The second tile scores 12 VP, for 6 pairs Entrepreneurs and Workers. At the end of the round, the player scores 18 VP for all his Service tiles. In the next round, he will be able to get more Service tiles and score more VP for the same pairs of Passengers.

Once all players finish scoring for the current round and marking their results on the Scoring Track, the Cleanup Phase begins.

Cleanup Phase

After scoring in rounds I and II perform the following actions: (This phase is omitted at the end of round III).

Flip both Goal tiles for the current round of the game, face down. In the following round, the next two Goal tiles will indicate new scoring patterns.
Put the Passenger tiles from the Waiting Area back in the bag, shake well and then draw 6 new Passengers to place in the Waiting Area.
Draw the proper number of Passenger tiles and place them in the Main Hall.
- Round II:
  - 2 players: 2 rows, 8 Passenger tiles each
  - 3 players: 3 rows, 9 Passenger tiles each
  - 4 players: 4 rows, 8 Passenger tiles each
- Round III:
  - 2 players: 2 rows, 10 Passenger tiles each
  - 3 players: 3 rows, 9 Passenger tiles each
  - 4 players: 4 rows, 8 Passenger tiles each
Discard the remaining Preference tiles from the Lounge, and replace with as many new Preference tiles as there are Persona tiles in both the first row of the Main Hall and in the Waiting Area. If there are none, then no Preference tiles should be placed in the Lounge.
Each player receives 2 Action tokens.
The first player passes the First player token to the person sitting to his left.

Begin the next round with the player holding the First player token. If this is the end of round III, skip the Cleanup Phase.

Final Scoring

The game ends after round III. Apart from the points scored during the game, players score additional points for their unused Tickets and Action tokens.

Each unused Ticket tile is worth 2 VP.
Each unused Action token is worth 1 VP.

The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the least Personas in their carriage wins the game. If it is still a tie, the players share the victory.

NOTE: Some scenarios can introduce additional ways of scoring victory points.

Solo Mode

Single player mode allows a 1 player game against a virtual opponent called the Automa. During the Action Phase, the Automa performs turns according to tiles in the Automa tile stack.

Automa Tiles

An Automa tile is divided into three sections and each of them shows a different action that the Automa can perform on its turn.

First, Automa tries to perform the action shown on the top section of the tile. If it is not possible, it then tries to perform the action on the second section, and then the third.

Solo Game Setup

Setup is the same as for a 2 player game.

Automa receives a Carriage board and one random Service tile.
Shuffle Automa's tiles and place them, face down, beside its Carriage.
Place the Passengers in the Waiting area in one row.

Solo Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to the multiplayer mode with a few changes listed below.

During the game, place the Preference tiles in the Lounge in one row.
You are ALWAYS the first player.
The Automa player can place only ONE Persona per compartment.

Solo Action Phase

The course of the game is the same as in the multiplayer mode. Automa takes its turn using its stack of tiles.

If, during any action, the Automa has a few options to choose from, the following resolving order should be used:

Resolving order (shown in the rulebook as a numbered diagram, positions 1 and 2).

Overview of Automa Tiles

At the beginning of Automa's turn, pick a tile from the top of Automa's stack of tiles. Automa's tile consists of three sections. It always tries to resolve the topmost section of the tile. If this is not an option, it then moves to the next section.

Section 1

Automa picks any available Persona tile from the current row and takes a Preference tile indicated by the arrow (in the example it is the first tile from the right). Automa places it in a compartment according to its seating preference. If the Automa is, for any reason, unable to place a Passenger tile according to the Preference tile seating requirement, it takes the next available Preference tile and tries again.

If the Automa is unable to place a Persona tile or there are no Persona tiles in the current row, it moves to the next section.

Example: Automa picks any of the two Persona tiles from the first row and takes the rightmost Preference tile.

NOTE: Remember - The Automa player can place only ONE Persona per compartment.

Section 2

Automa picks a Passenger matching the requirements on the first (in the Resolving order) Persona Preference Tile in its Carriage that has an available seat in its Compartment. If there are two types of Passengers to choose from, Automa takes the first matching Passenger from the left.

Example: The Automa has two Personas in its carriage. Based on the Resolving order first check the preferences of Persona 1. As there are no Entrepreneurs nor Tourists in the top row move on to Persona 2. Persona 2 would prefer to sit beside Workers or Soldiers and as both of these Passenger types are present in the top row, Automa picks the leftmost one (Worker in this case) and places that tile in any seat of that Personas' compartment.

Section 3

Automa picks a Passenger indicated by the number and arrow (in the above example it is the 4th Passenger from the right). If there are less Passengers than the indicated number, Automa picks the last one.

If the chosen Passenger is of a type corresponding to the preferences of any of the Personas with available seats in their compartment, then he should be placed in that Persona's compartment. In any other case, the Passenger should be seated in the first available compartment according to the resolving order.

If the indicated Passenger happens to be a Persona, the Automa picks the first available Preference tile from the Lounge indicated by the arrow in the bottom section of the Automa tile (in this example it's the first tile from the right).

If the Persona picked cannot be seated in the Carriage, the following Passenger should be considered - in this case the 5th passenger from the right.

General Rules for the Automa

The Automa can have a maximum of 1 Persona tile per compartment.
If the Automa cannot perform an action from the topmost section of its tile it moves on to the next section.
If the only available Passenger is a Persona and the Automa cannot place him in its carriage according to the rules, it is exchanged with a Passenger from the Waiting Area based on the indication from the bottom section of the Automa's tile. (In the very unlikely event when there are only Persona tiles (white) available in the Waiting Area and the Automa cannot pick any of them, it picks a random Passenger from the bag).
The moment the Automa receives a second Ticket token, it must IMMEDIATELY pick one of the available Service tiles which rewards it the most Victory Points at the moment. If there are more Service tiles which reward the same amount of VP, the Automa picks the first tile from the top. If none of the Service tiles give the Automa any victory points at the moment, pick tiles from the Service tile stack until you find a tile that does.

Automa Scoring

The Automa scores VP only for Personas and Services. It DOESN'T score any points for Goals.

Depending on the chosen difficulty level, the Automa scores the following number of points:

Difficulty	Services (each pair scores)	Personas (proper placement scores)
EASY	2	2
MEDIUM	2	3
HARD	3	3
EXTREME	3	4

Example of Automa scoring on MEDIUM difficulty:

SERVICES - Automa gains 2 VP for every pair of Passengers of the given type.
PERSONAS - Automa gains 3 VP for each PERSONA that is placed according to its seating preference and 1 VP for each Passenger that is seated according to his preferences.

At the end of the game, any unused Ticket token gives the Automa extra 5 VP.

Goal Tile Descriptions

Goal tiles are shown in the rulebook as illustrated patterns. The captions describing each pattern are transcribed below.

Goal 001-005: 2 pairs of Passengers (in this example Workers and Soldiers) sitting diagonally to each other. This pattern can be mirrored.
Goal 006-010: Passenger of a specified type (Soldier in this example) surrounded by 3 Passengers of one type (they can be the same type as the specified Passenger).
Goal 011: Pair of Passengers of the same type sitting in one compartment by the window.
Goal 012: Pair of Passengers of the same type sitting in one compartment by the aisle.
Goal 013: Compartment with a pair of Passengers of the same type by the window and another pair of the Passengers of the same type by the aisle. Both pairs can be of the same type.
Goal 014: Pair of Passengers of the same type sitting in a red compartment. These pairs must be seated by the window or by the aisle.
Goal 015: Pair of Passengers of the same type sitting in a green compartment. These pairs must be seated by the window or by the aisle.
Goal 016: 4 Passengers of the same type in a column.
Goal 017: 4 Passengers of different types in one compartment.
Goal 018: 4 Passengers of different types in a column.
Goal 019: Passengers of all 6 types in red compartments.

Expansion: Game Setup

Follow the standard game setup.

Beginning with the first Passenger from the left in each row, place a Luggage token of a corresponding colour on every other Passenger of each row of the Main Hall. (Luggage tokens come in 6 colors matching the 6 colors of Passenger tiles.)

Each player receives a Luggage Compartment board and places it beside their Carriage board.

Expansion: Game Play

The gameplay is similar to the base game with a few changes listed below.

Picking Passengers

When picking a Passenger tile with a Luggage token on it, place the Passenger as usual in one of the available seats in your Carriage. Put the Passenger's luggage in any available space, in one of the rows in the Luggage Compartment.

Each row in the Luggage Compartment can store luggage of one colour only.

A Persona's luggage token (white) can be used as ANY color.

In case a player can no longer add another luggage (e.g. all rows in the Luggage Compartment are full or are in a different colour than the new luggage token) it is discarded. When a row is filled with 3 Luggage tokens of the same colour, a player receives one of 2 bonuses - scores 3 VP or retrieves 1 Action token - depending on which row is filled.

Upon completing two adjacent rows, a player receives 1 Ticket token and puts it on a dedicated space in his Luggage Compartment. (Ticket tokens can be used according to the standard rules).

Performing Actions

With this expansion, players can perform one more type of action by using 1 Action token as normal.

That's not my luggage - discard the Luggage you just picked and choose a Luggage of any colour, then place it in the Luggage Compartment.

Expansion: Solo Mode

The solo mode plays according to the solo rules from the base game with a few changes listed below.

Automa fills its Luggage Compartment from top to bottom. First filling the first row, then the second etc. The colors of the Luggage tokens are irrelevant to the Automa.

Automa gains 3 points for EVERY filled row and gains a ticket token for filling two adjacent rows.

Automa always prioritizes Passengers with Luggage tokens on them.

Changes to the Automa tiles:

Section 1: Whenever picking a Persona tile pick one with a Luggage token on it (if possible).
Section 2: Automa takes the first matching Passenger from the left with a Luggage token on it (if possible).
Section 3: If the indicated Passenger doesn't have a Luggage token, pick the first Passenger with a Luggage token (from the left or right - depending on the direction of the arrow).

Scenarios

Grand Premiere

Everyone in Upper Venetica has been excited for this day. Today is the day Skyline Express is departing on its maiden voyage. Groups of reporters announce the arrival of famous personas. This is a great challenge for all carriage managers. Each passenger needs to be satisfied with the trip so that they give positive reviews of the Skyline Express!

Setup:

Remove all Persona tiles from the bag and put them aside.

Each player is dealt 2 Persona tiles and 3 Preference tiles. Pick 2 Preference tiles and shuffle the 1 you haven't picked into the Preference tile stack. Place the 2 Persona tiles in your carriage together with their Preference tiles.

Before placing Passengers in the Main Hall, first place 1 Persona tile in each row and later draw the proper number of tiles from the bag so that they match the setup for the current round.

Continue setup as normal.

Personas cannot be moved to the waiting room
Each Persona scoring 4 points in the Scoring phase allows the player to retrieve 1 used Action token

Suggested Grand Premiere Goal tile layouts:

A -> 002 | 016 | 008 | 014 | 009 | 015
B -> 022 | 023 | 009 | 003 | 005 | 017

These are dangerous times

The incredible popularity and renown of the Skyline Express attracts more and more passengers each day. It didn't take long for the criminal underworld to take interest... The surge in pickpocketing and robberies needs to stop! Designated soldiers are now on guard at every stop of the Skyline Express and make sure all passengers are safe.

Setup:

Remove 12/9/6 (4/3/2 players) Soldiers (green) Passenger tiles from the bag.

Before placing Passengers in the Main Hall, first place 1 Soldier tile in each row and later draw the proper number of tiles from the bag so that they match the setup for the current round.

In the Scoring phase gain 2 Victory Points for every compartment with exactly 1 Soldier and at least 1 Persona. If there is more than 1 Soldier you do not get any points for this compartment. Other Passengers can be placed in the compartments as normal.

Military Escort

No one has ever seen so many soldiers in a passenger carriage before! Rumors of the arrival of the greatest opera star are true! In order to mislead pesky reporters and excited fans each compartment has an assigned soldier. Thanks to this the star can enjoy a safe, peaceful journey as no one is sure where she is.

Scoring: In the Scoring phase gain Victory Points for Soldiers (green) tiles placed in the seats marked in the illustration. Amount of VP gained:

1 Soldier - 1 VP
2-3 Soldiers - 3 VP
4-5 Soldiers - 6 VP
6-7 Soldiers - 9 VP
8 Soldiers - 12 VP

Soldiers can also be placed in other seats of the players' compartments.

Solo: Automa gains +20 VP at the end of the game.

Priority Pass

Errors in the reservation system are the biggest problem train managers have to face. Yet again a system gremlin causes chaos and ruckus amongst passengers. Each stop of the Skyline Express causes new passengers to come aboard and find their seats already taken! The chaos and misinformation has negatively impacted the reputation of Skyline Express and it's the managers responsibility to sort this mess out.

Setup:

Before setting up rounds 2 and 3 each player picks 4 random Passengers from the bag. For each Persona, draw a random Preference tile. Next you may swap any number of these Passengers with Passengers in your carriage. Each Passenger removed from the carriage this way gives -1 VP. Once you are done, put all 4 Passengers back into the bag.

During this extra step players are not allowed to use Action tokens.

You can never have less than 0 points. If you have 0 points this step doesn't give -VP but you may still perform it.